Wind from Pennsylvania and methane gas from garbage dumps in Illinois will provide electricity for three U.S. Environmental Protection Agency research facilities in Cincinnati.

The EPA has signed a three-year contract to use 100 percent renewable energy as fuel for its facilities here and in a handful of other cities.

The green power starts flowing in October. By early next year, the federal EPA will rely on renewable energy for 9 percent of its power nationwide.

Rhonda Hampton, a mechanical engineer for the EPA who also serves as the agency's energy coordinator in Cincinnati, said the renewable energy will cost the agency about 6 percent more than electricity from Cinergy's coal-burning plants.

We are paying a small premium, Ms. Hampton said. But there are tremendous environmental benefits and the health benefits. Also, it's going to assist in boosting the market for green power alternatives.

Here's how it works: Wind churns large mills in Pennsylvania and methane gas is used to turn turbines in Illinois, both producing energy. That green power will then be conveyed to the EPA's plants in Cincinnati through Cinergy's lines.

There's another reason for the government to buy green power, besides supplying a market for burgeoning companies.

We want to set an example for the rest of the country, said Chris Paulitz, an EPA spokesman in Washington.

The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center in Clifton  which does research for Superfund cleanup sites and for pollution control  is the EPA's largest research facility in town. The two other facilities in Cincinnati  on Center Hill Avenue and Gest Street  provide research in solid-waste management, hazardous materials and landfill bio reactor design.